


A Budding Romace

by h_c_m



Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Reader, First Numb3rs fanfiction, Friends to Lovers, Oneshot, Sorry if everyone is out of character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23657161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_c_m/pseuds/h_c_m
Summary: The Reader works with Don at the FBI. Charlie asks the reader out on a date, but everything doesn't quite go as planned. Charlie is glad to have an understanding friend, and the reader is glad to know such a wonderful family. Cross-posted from Fanfiction.net.
Relationships: Charlie Eppes/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. First Date

**Author's Note:**

> Y/N- Your Name  
> H/C- Hair Colour  
> H/L- Hair Length  
> F/C- Favourite Colour  
> C/C- Complementing Colour

[Y/N] stood in front of her closet and looked through her outfits. Her eyes scanned over the different coloured dresses lined up before her. Eventually, her eyes landed on a [F/C], knee-length dress. She picked the dress out of the closet and held it up in front of her. She smiled at her reflection, closed the closet, and went to the bathroom to put on the dress. 

Once she had put on the dress, she went back to her room. She went back over to the closet and picked up the pair of [C/C] heels that sat beside it. She took the shoes back to her bed where she sat down and began putting them on. She adjusted the straps on her heels, made sure they and the dress were comfortable, and went back into the bathroom to fix her hair. 

She picked up the brush and looked in the mirror. She debated what to do with her [H/L], [H/C] hair. She ran the brush through her hair until it was soft and manageable and looked in the mirror. She loved how she looked and decided to leave it as it was. She put the brush back, left the bathroom, and headed down the stairs. 

Her heels tapped out sharp, staccato clicks against the polished, hard-wood floor. She smiled at the thought of going out tonight. Charlie Eppes, the brother of her coworker, Don, had invited her out on a date. She was surprised when he asked her because she thought that he was still with Amita. Without thinking, she asked about the other woman. 

“We… didn’t quite work out.” He paused for a moment and began to gesture with his hands. “She said that I spent too much time working and not enough time with her, so we broke it off.” 

[Y/N] mouthed “oh” and nodded. She looked away for a moment before saying that she would love to go out on a date with him. He had smiled, told her when he got off of work, and said that he might be a bit late because some students might have some questions about their new projects. She had smiled back at him, nodded, and said that she would see him then. 

She checked her watch as she reached for the doorknob. It was now 30 minutes after the school had closed, and she had decided to go on over to the school to see if Charlie was still there. She left her house, locked the door, and walked over to her car. She opened the door to her car, got in, and started down the road towards CalSci. 

After about a 15 minute drive, she had finally arrived at the college. The college track team was still there along with a few teachers and the coaches. She nodded and smiled at those who greeted her as she walked to Charlie’s classroom. Her heels clacked against the cold hallway floors, echoing loudly around her. Eventually, she found his door, which was slightly opened. 

She knocked lightly on the wooden door. She didn’t hear a response, so she tried again. Like the first time, she got no response. She gently pushed the door open and went inside. She saw Charlie standing in front of his chalkboard, which was covered in equations that were probably for a case that Don asked him to help with. She shut the door behind her, leaving it slightly opened like it was before. She walked over to an empty chair and sat down, still looking at the equations that were scrawled across the board. 

Charlie was focused on the numbers in front of him. He didn’t notice the door open, and he hadn’t noticed the girl who came into his room and sat down in his chair. He continued writing numbers and letters on the board. He stood back and read over what he just wrote, applying what he knew from the case to the equations. He turned back to the papers on his desk, which had more information he needed to go through. While looking through the papers, he noticed a shadow that he didn’t think was there before. He glanced up to see [Y/N] reading over what he was writing and trying to make sense of it. He hadn’t expected her to be early. He checked his watch. [Y/N] wasn’t early, he was late. 

“Don give you a new case?” [Y/N] asked. She stood up from the chair and walked over to his desk. 

“Yeah. I didn’t expect to be working on it for this long.” He paused, tapping his chalk against his other hand. “Um, I could leave this here for now and finish it tomorrow, if you want.” 

“Oh, no, you don’t have to. Are you close to being done with it, whatever ‘it’ is.” Her eyes roamed across everything that he had written. 

“Almost, I just have to run a few more of these locations through it to make sure it’s right.” He held up the papers in his hand. 

[Y/N] nodded. “Can you show me how you run those through? I’ve never seen anything like this.” 

“Oh, yeah, sure!” Charlie motioned for her to join him on the other side of the desk. He showed her how he plugged in the information he was given and how he identified the patterns that nobody at the FBI had picked up on. Every now and then [Y/N] would ask how he knew where something went and how it was connected, and he would answer to the best of his ability. Sometimes he would use one of his analogies, which helped make what he was saying easier to understand. She would nod and follow along as best as she could. It felt like she was attending another class or lecture from college except she actually understood what was being explained to her. 

‘It’s no wonder all of his students love his classes,’ she thought. Charlie was putting the finishing touches on the equations he had been explaining. [Y/N] smiled to herself and looked out the window. The track team, coaches, and teachers had left for home over half an hour ago. The sky was now a beautiful, peaceful shade of dark lavender. Before she could get too caught up in the beauty of the evening, Charlie’s phone started ringing. 

“Could you answer that for me? It’s probably Don, or Dad.” 

“Sure.” She picked up his phone and flipped it open. “Hello?” 

“Hey, [Y/N], where are you and Charlie at?” Don asked. 

“We’re still at the school. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Did you need something?” 

“Nah, Dad and I were just wondering where you all were. Weren’t you too supposed to go out on a date or something?” 

“We were, but we started talking here and lost track of time.” 

“Ah. Well, you two be careful when you drive home. It’s getting pretty dark.” 

“Yeah, will do. Bye, Don.” 

“Bye.” 

“Sorry we couldn’t go out tonight,” Charlie said. He sat beside [Y/N] in the passenger seat. 

“Don’t worry about it. I still had fun listening to you explain everything about those equations.” She smiled. 

“Maybe we could reschedule our date to a day when neither of us are working.” 

“I would like that. Maybe we could get dinner?” 

“Sure, that sounds nice.” 

By the time they had arrived back at Charlie’s house, it was pitch black outside. They parked in the driveway beside Don’s car. [Y/N] was going to go on home, but Charlie insisted that she come inside and have something to eat since they hadn’t gone out to eat like they had planned to. She agreed and followed him inside. 

She greeted Alan and Don when she stepped through the door. They smiled at her and asked how she was. She told them that she was good and told them about the day that she had. Charlie greeted his father and brother and went to the kitchen to see what they could have. [Y/N] went over to the couch and sat down on the far end. She talked with the two elder Eppes men while Charlie looked around the kitchen. Eventually, he called her to come join him in the other room. 

They sat together at the table and talked about whatever came to mind: shows they had watched, books they had read, plays they had seen, and stories from their childhood. A little while later, after they had finished their meal, they went back into the living room with the two others. They continued talking among each other for almost an hour. They recounted stories from their school days and from work and told jokes to each other. 

[Y/N] looked down at her watch. “Wow, it’s late. I have to get home.” 

“It’s too dark for you to be driving now, especially on these roads.” Don took a drink of the beer he had brought from the kitchen. 

“Yeah,” Charlie agreed, “it wouldn’t be safe for you to drive. You can stay here if you want.” 

[Y/N] looked out the living room window. The road could barely be seen due to how dark it was outside. She sighed, “Yeah. Let me just go out to the car. I have an overnight bag in there just in case I can’t get home for some reason.” 

She went out to the car and retrieved her overnight bag. Once she was back inside, she asked where she would be sleeping. Charlie showed her to the guest room on the second floor beside Don’s room. He went back downstairs to talk to his father and brother while [Y/N] changed out of her dress and heels and put on her pajamas. She folded her dress and put it in the bottom of the bag along with her shoes. Once she was dressed and had her dress and shoes put away, she went back downstairs. 

They sat and talked together for almost an hour and a half longer before they decided that it was time to go to bed. They wished each other a good night and headed off to their separate bedrooms. [Y/N] got in her bed and pulled the covers up around her shoulders. She was happy that they let her stay at their house. She was nervous about driving home in the dark and staying home alone, especially with the recent cases they had been investigating. She made a mental note to thank them again in the morning.She closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful, pleasant-dream-filled sleep.


	2. An Early Morning At The Eppes'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes. I don't have a Beta reader. I hope you enjoy this small domestic scene!

The alarm on [Y/N]'s phone jolted me awake. She glared at the bright screen as she swiped her finger across it. 'Six o' clock already?' [Y/N] thought. She sighed and kicked the warm sheets off of her legs. The cold air immediately hit her skin, causing her to shiver slightly.

She sat up straight and stretched her arms and legs. She grabbed her overnight bag from beside the bed and began to dig out her extra pair of clothes. She put the light blue shirt, tan cardigan, and black dress pants on the bed and grabbed a pair of black shoes that were at the bottom of the bag. She sat them down beside her feet and stood up. Picking her clothes and bag up off of the bed, she made her way across the cold, wood floor towards the bathroom.

[Y/N] sat her clothes down on the bathroom sink and shut the door. She dug through her now almost empty bag and pulled out a bottle of strawberry shampoo, lemon face cleanser, a bar of coconut scented soap, and a washcloth. She took off her pajamas and stepped into the shower with her shampoo, soap, face cleanser, and washcloth.

She sat her things on one of the shower shelves and turned on the water. She felt her muscles relax as the warm water poured over her. She stood there for a few seconds, enjoying the feeling, before she picked up my cleanser and began to wash up.

Twenty minutes later, [Y/N] stepped out of the shower into the now steam filled bathroom. She pulled a towel out of her bag and began drying off. After she finished drying herself off, she wiped the steam off of the mirror and the water off of the shower. She put on her clothes and dug around in her bag once again for her hairbrush, toothbrush, and toothpaste.

She sat her hairbrush down beside her bag and started to brush her teeth. [Y/N] looked around the bathroom as she brushed, noting the details of the small room. The floor was covered in pristine white tiles that shined brightly in the light. The walls were a dull olive green that contrasted greatly with the bright floors. The cabinets were made of cherry wood that didn't quite match the room, but did look nice on their own. She finished brushing her teeth and checked them in the mirror. Since she was satisfied with how they looked, she washed the toothpaste off of her toothbrush, put the toothbrush back into the container, and put the container and the tube of toothpaste back into her bag.

She then moved on to brushing her hair, which had almost dried. She picked up the brush and gently pushed it through the ends of her hair. After making sure there were no tangles, she moved the brush further up her hair. After a minute or two, she had brushed the tangles out and put the brush back into her bag. [Y/N] wiped off her bottles and put them, along with her bar of soap, into the bag with everything else.

She grabbed the bag and went back over to the bed. She sat down on the edge of the mattress and placed it next to her. She grabbed her shoes and began putting them on. Once she had my shoes on, she picked up her bag and put in on her shoulder. She neatly fixed the sheets and pillows on the bed. She quickly turned out the lights in the bedroom and started down the stairs.

When she reached the bottom of the steps, she heard the faint sound of something sizzling and saw Alan and Don in the kitchen. Don was sitting at the table watching what she assumed to be a pre-recorded baseball game on the television. Alan was at the stove cooking scrambled eggs.

Don turned to [Y/N] and smiled, "Good morning. Just got a call from the team, we don't have to be out there till ten. Want some eggs?"

She nodded, "Yeah, sure. If it's not too much trouble."

"It's no trouble at all," Alan said. He brought over a plate of eggs and sat them down in front of an empty chair.

"Thanks." She sat down, picked up her fork, and began eating her breakfast.

After breakfast, [Y/N] watched the game on the couch with Don, occasionally commenting on pitches and hits and listening to his comments about the players and their techniques. Alan sat in his leather chair working on his crossword puzzles. A plate of scrambled eggs was on the table, covered by a lid to keep it warm. An empty glass and a fork sat on either side of the plate.

A few minutes later, Charlie came down the stairs with a notebook. He quietly walked over to the table and sat down. He moved the lid, which made a small clinking sound as it hit the table. [Y/N] heard the noise and looked to see what it was. She saw him sitting alone, looking over his notebook, and decided to go ask what he was looking at.

As she walked over to him, she could slowly start to make out what he had written. They looked to be the same equations he had explained to her the day before. She pulled up a chair beside him and sat down. Like yesterday, he was too absorbed in his work to notice. Instead of interrupting his train of thought, she just smiled and watched him scribble down more numbers.

After he finished what seemed to be the third equation, he finally looked up from the paper and started to eat his breakfast. When he looked up he noticed that [Y/N] was sitting beside him. He gave her an awkward half smile, which she returned. She leaned back in her chair and looked over at the television again. 'I'm already over here. I might as well talk to him,' she thought.

"I see you're working on the same equations as yesterday." She turned back to him.

He nodded," You have to check them over and over to make sure they're right."

"Because the math is so complex, right?"

"Right. It's good to make sure that there aren't any mistakes, especially with something like this."

[Y/N] was just about to say something when Don's phone rang. As soon as the person on the other end spoke, his expression changed from happy and relaxed to serious.

"What happened?" She asked after he shut his phone.

"Another murder last night. Just found the body."

[Y/N] looked from him to Charlie and stood up in a hurry. He was already out the door by the time she had pushed in her chair. Charlie stood up after her and started to follow her out the door.


End file.
